Fig. 3. Detection of in vivo discriminatory metabolite features in bacterial biomasses by DESI-MS.

Discriminatory metabolites identified in the in vivo DESI-MS analyses were detected by DESI-MS in bacterial isolates (n = 25) of species recognized as being predominant members of major vaginal community state types (CST). A total of 27 metabolites were detected at levels lower or higher than that observed in media background controls, where the mean log₂ fold change (FC) was estimated as the ratio of the mean intensity in the bacterial biomass samples to the mean intensity in the background culture media samples.